Drop light cause of fire at Goodrich Avenue home

SANFORD — Fire investigators believe that a drop light was the cause of the fire that extensively damaged a Goodrich Avenue home last Friday afternoon.

The fire started on the second floor of the two-story home at 10 Goodrich Avenue, said Sanford's Assistant Fire Chief Jeffrey Rowe. The homeowner, Christine Pratt, and her daughter Meegan lived on the first floor and used the second floor for storage, Rowe said.

The morning of the fire, the two women were preparing for a camping trip with a group of friends from the Shapleigh Baptist Church and were up and down the stairs packing for the weekend. A drop light — a portable light fixture — that was used to see into the dark corners of the attic space may have been left on and ignited flammable materials nearby, according to the investigation.

The women had packed up the vehicle and left for Glen, N.H., and no one was in the house when the fire began, said a friend at the scene.

A next-door neighbor was outside when she saw smoke coming from the house and ran over to alert the family, not sure if anyone was home. Janice Landry said she banged on the door and when no one responded she asked a woman passing by to call 911 on her cell phone.

Rowe said the fire got into the empty space between the attic's low ceilings and the roof — about three feet at the peak of the roof — and spread, making it difficult to find and extinguish the flames. A new metal roof installed over the previous roof kept the heat from the blaze in the house.

"It was a very hot fire," Rowe said.

Two firefighters were transported to Goodall Hospital and treated for heat exhaustion and one was also treated for first-degree burns to his ear and the side of his face.

Firefighters were on the scene until about 5 p.m., Rowe said.

The rear of the house had heavy structural damage, both up and downstairs, and there was substantial smoke and water damage to the front of the house. But Rowe said the first story was not as badly damaged and that the Pratts would probably be able to salvage some of their belongings.

"They've been working on that house for years and years and years," said neighbor Richard Landry, shaking his head as he watched firefighters battle the blaze.